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COPVRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



I 



THE 
Establishment and Development 

OF THE 

SCHOOLSYSTEM 

OF THE 

STATE OF NEW YORK 



THOMAS E. FINEGAN, Ped.D.,LL.D. 

Third Assistant Commissioner 




SYRACUSE. N. Y. 

C. W. BARDEEN. PUBLISHER 

1913 

Copyright, 1913, by C. W. Bardeen 



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.31 



This address was delivered before the 
New York State Teachers Association at 
Buffalo, Nov. 26, 1912, and is published 
by consent and with tbe revision of the 
author. 



CONTENTS 

Page 
Introduction 9 

The schools of Holland 10 

Dutch settlers in America 14 

Early New York schools 16 

English influence on New York schools. .20 

After the Revolution 21 

The first Common school 25 

The law of 1795 25 

The law of 1812 27 

The fight for Free schools 33 

The Public School Society 47 

Higher education 50 

Columbia university 51 

The Regents of the University 52 

Union free schools 56 

Equal education for girls 59 

School funds 64 

Training of Teachers 68 

Supervision 73 

Compulsory education 76 

The Empire State 79 

(7) 



The Establishment and Development 
of New York's School System 

The common school system of this state, 
whose permanent foundations were es- 
tablished by the Legislature in 1812, is 
now completing one hundred years of 
uninterrupted service. When the New 
York State Teachers Association was 
organized in 1845, the common school 
system had not yet won that universal 
support from the public which it now 
enjoys and which was essential to the 
fulfilment of the great service which the 
state intended such system should render. 
During the sixty-seven years of her his- 
tory, this association has been an im- 
portant agency not only in bringing 
popular support to the state system of 
(9) 



10 Development of New York Schools 

public education but in influencing the 
development of that system so that it 
has been a powerful factor in developing 
the state's intellectual and cultural stand- 
ards, in building up and maintaining her 
industrial and commercial supremacy, and 
in promoting the security and happiness of 
her people. It is therefore peculiarly 
fitting that this association should devote 
an evening to the consideration of the 
essential facts relating to the history of 
the origin of the common school system 
of this state, of the great struggle that 
ensued to make such schools free, and of 
the progress which has been made during 
the century of their existence. 

The Schools of Holland 
New York was settled by the Dutch 
during the seventeeth century. Holland 
was a land of homes, orphanages, hospitals, 



J 



Development of New York Schools 1 1 

churches and schools. It was a land 
inhabited by a happy, contented, pros- 
perous, thrifty, cultured, religious people. 
Fiske says that even the peasants of 
Holland could commonly read and write 
their own langauge. For a century or 
more public schools had been maintained 
in the cities, and a system of schools had 
been perfected in the closing years of 
the sixteenth and the beginning of the 
seventeeth centuries which extended not 
only throughout the populous centres 
of that country but throughout the rural 
regions as well. This system of schools 
provided instruction not only for every 
boy but also for every girl in that land. 
The schools of Holland were public 
schools and were maintained in accor- 
dance with regulations prescribed by the 
public authorities. They were under 



12 Development of New York Schools 

dualistic control, the church and the state, 
with the ecclesiastical influence predomi- 
nating. Although tuition was generally 
charged for attendance upon these schools, 
they were nevertheless properly regarded 
as public schools. They were public 
schools in the sense that they were open 
to all children of the country, were sup- 
ported in part by public taxation, and 
were in their management and control 
subject to the public authorities. The 
curriculum was simple, including reading, 
writing and religious instruction. Some- 
times the elements of arithmetic were also 
taught. The civil authorities determined 
the books to be used, the qualifications 
of the teachers, and the general policy 
of the schools. They employed the 
teacher and paid his salary. Poor chil- 



Development of New York Schools 13 

dren, upon request, were received with- 
out the payment of tuition. 

In addition to these schools, several 
universities had been established, afford- 
ing a system of higher education and 
exerting a mighty influence upon the life 
of the nation. Holland's men of trade 
and finance, of letters and science, her 
artists and inventors, her lawyers and 
statesmen were among the leaders of the 
world. Her army and navy recognized 
no superiors. Her people were men of 
honor and of high ideals. While they 
were generous and tolerant, they appre- 
ciated the value of their liberties and 
freedom and with firmness and courage 
protected and maintained them. No 
people of that period occupied a more 
commanding position throughout the world 
in industrial, commercial and financial 



14 Development of New York Schools 

affairs. No country enjoyed the exercise 
of greater civil, political and religious 
liberties. 

Dutch settlers in America 
It was from a people of this character 
and these advantages and political ex- 
periences that the first settlers of New 
York came. They were therefore unlike 
the representatives of most nations that 
sought homes in the New World in the 
seventeenth century. They came to 
American shores, not because they were 
oppressed at home, not to avoid persecu- 
tion, not to find a refuge where they might 
peaceably live in accordance with the 
dictates of their consciences, not as ad- 
venturers and plunderers, but they came 
on their own initiative to reap the ad- 
vantages which their country's expanding 
commerce and the commercial opportuni- 



Development of New York Schools 15 

ties of the times and conditions afforded. 
Wherever the Dutch made settlements 
in America, they established schools and 
such schools were of the type of those 
which existed in Holland. In the creation 
of an institution, in their adoped country, 
which would have such a vital influence 
upon their happiness and liberties as the 
public school would have, it was natural 
that they should introduce the type of 
school which had been the bulwark of 
their freedom and civilization in the mother 
country. Of course, there was no organ- 
ized government in the new land, and the 
govermental authority exercised in the 
Dutch settlements was that which Holland 
exercised through the West India Com- 
pany. The government was vested in a 
supervisory body known as the Lord 
Directors and a director general and 



16 Development of New York Schools 

council who exercised such power as the 
Lord Directors conferred upon them. 
Early New York schools 

The school master was required to give 
religious instruction to all the children 
in his school. A catechism was used for 
this purpose. The course of study also 
included the "three R's". In view of 
the religious instruction required, the 
church authorities therefore examined and 
licensed the teachers, prescribed the cate- 
chism, approved the books used, and 
supervised the instruction to see that its 
requirements were satisfied. 

The expense of the maintenance of the 
school was shared by the company at 
New Amsterdam and by the city. It 
appears that, in the Dutch villages, sub- 
scriptions, which were regarded as com- 
pulsory, were received and that an excise 



Development of New York Schools 17 

revenue was available. There is evidence 
to support the statement that in some of 
these villages the company also contrib- 
uted to the salary of the teacher. The 
teacher also received from each child a 
tuition fee which was fixed by the local 
public authorities. In accordance with 
the practice in Holland, poor children, 
upon request, were received without the 
payment of tuition. 

The evidence is ample to show that the 
first school established by the Dutch was 
at New Amsterdam in 1633. This school 
was not only the first public school in 
New York but also the first upon American 
soil. This pioneer American school was 
maintained through the entire period of 
Dutch rule but, upon the advent of the 
second period of English rule in 1674, 
passed into the control of the Reformed 



18 Development of New York Schools 

Dutch Church of New York City and that 
institution has continued the maintenance 
of such school to the present time. This 
school has therefore had a continuous 
existence from 1633, or a period of nearly 
three centuries. The schools in some of 
the Dutch villages after the period of 
English control were continued as official 
schools and were under the direction of 
and supported by the local civil authorities. 
Elementary schools did not propsper dur- 
ing the century of English rule preceding 
the Revolution. The English could see 
only a menace to their power in main- 
taining schools for the Dutch. The entire 
educational record of the colony of New 
York for that century is restircted to 
three acts— two creating free Latin schools 
in New York and the other relating to 
appropriations from public revenues for 



Development of New York Schools 19 

the support of Kings College, now Colum- 
bia University . 

The leaders of the Dutch Church in 
America appear to have been unable to 
comprehend that America was destined 
to become the land of a great English- 
speaking people. They failed to realize 
the great opportunities that would come 
from uniting with the English authori- 
ties who controlled the municipalities to 
make provision for giving instruction in 
the schools in the English language as 
well as in the Dutch language. In this 
incident is a lesson from which we may 
profit today, and that is that public 
schools which fail to meet the educational 
necessities of the people are not performing 
the functions for which they are organized 
and maintained. 

An examination of the general manage- 



20 Development of New York Schools 

ment of the schools during the forty 
years of Dutch rule will show that there 
was a gradual separation between the 
influence of the church and of the civil 
authorities and that this movement was 
toward the secular control of the schools. 
During the century following the rule of 
the Dutch, this movement gained great 
strength with the people and developed 
into an open opposition to the ecclesiasti- 
cal control not only of the schools but of 
civil affairs generally. 
English influence on New York Schools 

It is not to be assumed, however, that 
there were no schools during the rule of 
the English nor during the years im- 
mediately following the Revolution. 

There were schools but they were either 
private schools, church schools, or charity 
schools. They were not generally in the 



Development of New York Schools 21 

accepted meaning of that day public 
schools and were insufficient in number 
and in organization to provide proper 
facilities for the great majority of the 
children. The Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, a 
missionary society representing the Church 
of England, is entitled to recognition for 
its labor and particularly for its effort 
to promote the use of the English language. 

After the Revolution 
Immediately after the close of the 
Revolution, the subject of public educa- 
tion began to receive the attention of the 
foremost men of the country. In our 
own state, Clinton, Hamilton, Livingston, 
Jay and others advocated the adoption 
of means for the education of the masses. 
The British evacuated New York City 
in November 1783, and within two months 



22 Development of New York Schools 

thereafter the state legislature was in 
seesion and Governor Clinton was stating 
to that body in his official message that 
the most important subject for their 
consideration was the necessity of pro- 
viding for the education of the youth of 
the state. In 1784 and within six months 
after the defeated British forces had 
marched from New York City, the law- 
making body of the state enacted two 
laws which have exerted a mighty in- 
fluence in the development of New York's 
public school system. These were the 
act creating the University of the State 
of New York and the one to provide 
funds for the support of the schools. 
The first official statement setting forth 
the needs of a system of public schools 
came from the Board of Regents in 1787. 
A committee of that body of which Alexan- 



Development of New York Schools 23 

der Hamilton and Ezra L'Hommedieu 
were members submitted a report which 
contained the following statement: "Your 
committee feels bound to add that the 
erecting of public schools for teaching 
reading, writing and arithmetic is an 
object of very great importance, which 
ought not to be left to the discretion of 
private men, but be promoted by public 
authority." 

Governor Clinton in his annual mes- 
sages continued to impress upon the 
Legislature the importance of providing 
elementary schools. The Board of Regents 
in their annual reports to the Legislature 
joined with Governor Clinton in setting 
forth the supreme need of establishing 
schools throughout the state. In their 
reports for 1793, 1794, and 1795, the 
Regents again took strong ground upon 



24 Development of New York Schools 

this question and, in the latter year the 
Legislature responded favorably. 

It may seem strange now that the Legis- 
lature acted with much deliberation upon a 
question of such pressing and momentous 
importance to the people. There was 
reason enough for such delay. The long 
struggle of the Revolution had impover- 
ished the people; the population of the 
state was only 340,000; the expense of 
inaugurating a school system was a 
consideration at that day which properly 
made wise men cautious; there were those 
who believed that parents shoiild meet 
the entire expense of the education of 
their children ; there were those who were 
indifferent to the proposition; and there 
were others who were positively opposed 
not only to the state's assuming direction 
of public education but even to the idea 



Development of New York Schools 25 . 

of educating the" masses. Public senti- 
ment, however, was fast ripening upon 
this question. 

The first Common school 
The first common school established 
in this state was at Clermont, Columbia 
county, in 1791. The Legislature author- 
ized the use of the surplus excise revenue 
which was not needed to support the poor 
to purchase a site, erect a schoolhouse, 
and maintain a school. Chancellor Liv- 
ingston was appointed a member of 
a commission to see that the act relating 
thereto was made effective. 
The law of 1795 
The Assembly of 1795 appointed a 
committee to consider that part of Gover- 
nor Clinton's message which related to 
his recommendation on the establishment 
of a system of common schools. This 



26 Development of New York Schools 

committee reported a bill which became 
a law and was the beginning of the founda- 
tion on which the state school system was 
constructed. This law authorized an 
annual appropriation of fifty thousand 
dollars for a period of five years, to be 
apportioned to the localities which main- 
tained schools. Each town was required 
to raise by taxation a sum equal to one- 
half the amount apportioned to it from 
the state fund. Localities were authorized 
to form associations for the purpose of 
maintaining schools and to elect two 
trustees to have charge of the general 
business affairs of the schools. The towns 
were required to elect from three to seven 
commissioners, who were given super- 
vision and direction of the schools and 
the power to determine the qualifications 



Development of New York Schools 27 

of teachers and to apportion the school 
funds. 

This scheme had no general direc- 
tory or supervisory force and no cohesive 
power within itself and therefore completely 
broke down. It appears that about fifteen 
hundred schools had been organized within 
the five years for which appropriations 
had been authorized and that as many 
as sixty thousand children attended them. 
They failed however to command suf- 
ficient respect and influence to induce the 
Legislature in 1800 to renew the appro- 
priation for their support and were there- 
fore generally discontinued in that year. 
The law of 1812 

Each year thereafter the Governor 
in his message and the friends of the 
schools who were in the Legislature pressed 
the issue to the front until the year 1811 



28 Development of New York Schools 

when Governor Tompkins was authorized 
to appoint another committee to report 
to the Legislature the following year "a 
system for the organization and estab- 
lishment of common schools". This 
committee gave the question most care- 
ful consideration. They evidently made 
an exhaustive study of the plans pursued 
in other countries and submitted to the 
Legislature of 1812 a report which forms 
one of the most important educational 
documents in the history of the state. 
The committee also submitted with its 
report the draft of a bill to carry into 
effect the recommendations made in its 
report. This bill was enacted into law 
by the Legislature of 1812. Its principal 
provisions were as follows: 

1 The present plan of school districts 
was provided. The territory in each 



Development of New York Schools 29 

town was divided into such districts by 
three commissioners chosen for this special 
purpose at the town meeting. 

2 A complete and effective school 
organization was created in each district, 
consisting of three trustees, a collector 
and a clerk. 

3 The principle that all teachers 
should possess moral character and cer- 
tain scholastic qualifications was estab- 
lished and local officers known as town 
commissioners and inspectors were created 
to determine such qualifications and also 
to inspect the schools. 

4 The office of state superintendent 
of common schools was created, being the 
first office of the kind to be established 
by any state in the Union. This officer 
was given sufficient directory and super- 
visory authority to initiate proceedings 



30 Development of New York Schools 

to set the machinery of each district into 
operation and the power to bind the 
schools together into one strong, aggres- 
sive force to accomplish the purposes for 
which the state created them. 

5 Each district was required to pro- 
vide a schoolhouse and site, to keep the 
building in repair, and to furnish necessary 
appendages and fuel. A tax could be 
laid upon the property of the district 
for this purpose. 

6 Trustees were authorized to employ 
a teacher and fix his compensation. 

7 The money apportioned to a dis- 
trict from the school funds could be used 
only in the payment of teachers' salaries. 

These were the broad lines upon which 
the schools were to be conducted, and 
each of these general provisions has been 
continued in the management of our 



Development of New York Schools 31 

schools system through the century which 
it is now completing. This fact is evidence 
of the wisdom and the keen vision which 
was possessed by our forefathers who 
constructed the machinery for the opera- 
tion of an organization so vast in its im- 
portance, touching as it does the most 
cherished interests of every fireside in 
the commonwealth . 

In addition to these provisions of the 
law there are certain important funda- 
mental principles of state policy involved 
which should be briefly considered. 

1 That public education was a state 
function and that public schools should be 
fostered and maintained under state super- 
vision was determined. 

2 That in the accomplishment of this 
purpose a state system of tax-supported 
schools should be established and officers 



32 Development of New York Schools 

chosen in the several localities to execute 
the state's policy in relation to public 
education. 

3 That where the funds of the state go, 
the authority and supervision of the state 
must follow. 

A comparison of the essential features 
of the school system adopted in 1812 
with the school system developed in 
Holland in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries and also with the schools main- 
tained in the Dutch villages of New York 
during the period of Dutch rule will re- 
veal types of schools which are strikingly 
similar. There was, however, one pre- 
dominant influence in the Holland and 
in the Dutch colonial schools which was 
absolutely eliminated in the system of 
1812, and this was the ecclestiastical 
power. It will be observed that the 



Development of New York Schools 33 

secular influence which had gained such 
great ground throughout the civilized 
world where the people were responsive 
to the influences of democracy was in 
complete control of the schools. 
The fight for Free schools 
There were three sources from which 
the necessary revenues for meeting the 
expenses of maintaining schools were 
derived: (1) the district imposed a tax 
for the expense of providing a schoolhouse, 
fuel, etc. and the tuition of indigent 
children; (2) the fund apportioned by 
the state, which was about twenty dollars 
for each district, was to be applied ex- 
clusively toward the payment of the 
salary of the teacher; (3) the balance 
necessary to meet the deficiency in the 
salary of the teacher was assessed upon 
the parents of the children who attended 



34 Development of New York Schools 

school. The children of the indigent 
were exempt from the payment of tuition. 
This assessment upon parents authorized 
in 1814 was the inauguration of what was 
known as the ratebill system. 

This plan often placed a burden upon 
the poor which they were not able to 
meet. To avoid it, they must acknowl- 
edge that ther were indigent. The tuition 
was then assumed by the district and 
entry of the payment thereof made in 
the public records. The children affected 
were therefore publicly branded as indigent 
children and the recipients of charity. 
The whole plan was repugnant to the 
proper spirit of democratic institutions 
in the dawn of the nineteenth century. 
It was doubtless an inheritance from 
Holland. In that country, during the 
seventeenth century, as we have already 



Development of New York Schools 35 

observed, the poor children were admitted 
to school upon request without the pay- 
ment of tuition. A similar plan prevailed 
in the Dutch schools in America. While 
the establishment of a system of common 
schools was an expression of the democracy 
which prevailed after the close of the 
Revolution, our democratic tendencies 
had not yet reached that development 
where human rights were always to be 
regarded as superior to property rights. 
We were not yet ready to adopt the princi- 
ple that it is the obligation of the state 
to provide for the education of all its 
children. 

This very question which seems so 
simple now was one of the most trouble- 
some in the development of the public 
school system. It is probabaly within 
the truth to say that no other question 



36 Development of New York Schools 

agitated the public mind to a greater 
extent and was a source of greater feeling 
among the people for so long a period of 
time. It was a subject of bitter contro- 
versy in the legislative halls of the state 
for over a half century before a solution 
was reached. 

Until this issue was raised, the question 
had been the establishment of common 
schools. Now the question had become. 
Shall we have free schools t Shall the 
property of the state educate the children 
of the state? Special laws were enacted 
by the Legislature from year to year con- 
ferring upon cities'and villages the privilege 
of voting upon the question of making 
the schools free and in every instance the 
proposition was adopted. Between 1842 
and 1848, it was adopted in Brooklyn, 
Williamsburg, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, 



Development of New York Schools 37 

Lansingburgh, Flushing, Newtown, Bush- 
wick and Syracuse, and practically in 
Albany, Troy and Utica. These sections 
represented one-fourth of the population 
of the state. The honor of being the 
first city to adopt free schools belongs to 
New York." 

The subject of free schools came before 
the constitutional convention of 1846. 
It received careful consideration by the 
committee on common schools and a 
great debate upon the proposition occurred 
upon the floor of the convention. On 
the day preceding final adjournment, the 
convention adopted a motion to submit to 
the people the proposition to incorporate in 
the Constitution a provision requiring the 
Legislature to provide funds for the main- 
tenance of free schools throughout the 
state. This proposition was adopted 



38 Development of New York Schools 

by a vote of 57 to 53. Unfortunately the 
convention adjotirned for dinner. A 
device sometimes known as a caucus or a 
conference was understood even at this 
early period. One was held during the 
dinner hour and, when the convention 
reconvened, its previous action in voting 
to submit to the people the right to vote 
upon the adoption of a constitutional 
provision in favor of free schools was re- 
considered by a vote of 61 to 27. 

The question next came before the 
Legislature of 1849. A law was enacted 
in that year to establish free schools 
throughout the state. The proposition 
was submitted to the voters of the state 
to determine whether or not it should be 
adopted. Every county in the state ex- 
cept Chenango, Otsego and Tompkins 
gave favorable majorities and the state 



Development of New York Schools 39 

gave an overwhelming majority of 157,921 
in favor of free schools. This free school 
law also provided that boards of super- 
visors should levy upon their respective 
counties for school purposes a sum equal 
to the amount apportioned such counties 
by the state. This school fund was then 
apportioned among the towns and another 
tax upon the town equal to the amount 
apportioned to it was also assessed. The 
balance necessary to maintain the schools 
was to be collected by a tax upon the 
property of the school district. 

The result of the election was not known 
until a majority of the boards of super- 
visors had adjourned. No county tax 
or town tax for school purposes was levied 
by these bodies in most counties. The 
entire expense of maintaining the schools 
fell upon the school district. The in- 



40 Development of New York Schools 

creased tax for school purposes was so 
pronounced that a hostile feeling to the 
law developed in all parts of the state. 
The Legislature of 1850 was flooded with 
petitions for the repeal of the law. The 
opponents of free schools set in motion 
every agency at their command to defeat 
the project. The friends of free schools 
were also alert. Assemblyman Bur- 
roughs of Orleans county came forward 
with a proposition to raise annually by 
state tax $800,000 for the support of the 
schools. Those opposed to the principle 
of free schools would make no compromise 
and they possessed sufficient influence 
in the Legislature to pass a proposition 
submitting to the people the right to 
vote upon the repeal of the law. This 
measure passed the Assembly on the last 
day of the session and after midnight 



Development of New York Schools 41 

when the pendulum of the clock had been 
stopped and the hands set at twelve. 
The friends of free schools renewed their 
fight in behalf of the great principle for 
which they had fought for nearly fifty 
years. A state convention was held at 
Syracuse which was presided over by 
State superintendent Young and in which 
the people of the state were urged to 
oppose the repeal of the law, but the 
convention pledged its efforts to such 
amendments thereof as public sentiment 
demanded. The repeal of such law was 
defeated at the general election of 1850 
by a majority of 25,038 votes and once 
again had the people of the state gone 
on record in support of free schools. 
Forty-two counties in the state, however, 
gave majorities in favor of the repeal of 
the law and outside of New York City 



42 Development of New York Schools 

there was a clear majority in favor of such 
repeal. As reports came in from these 
counties, the eyes of the entire state were 
turned upon that great city, and she 
rolled up a majority of 38,000, which not 
only overcame the up-state vote but 
which forever preserved the free school 
system and scored a mighty victory in 
favor of democracy in public education. 
The opponents of free schools ptirsued 
every possible avenue of attack upon the 
law and even instituted proceedings in 
the courts in four different counties to 
test its constitutionality. One of these 
cases reached the Court of Appeals and in 
June 1853 that court declared the law 
unconstitutional. This decision was 
based upon the form and procedure in 
the enactment of the law and not upon 
the power of the Legislature or the au- 



Development of New York Schools 43 

thority of the people to provide free schools. 
The law was so drawn that its validity 
depended upon a majority of the votes 
being cast for its adoption and not upon 
the action of the Legislature. The court 
held that the constitution conferred on 
the Legislature the power to enact laws 
and that the Legislature could not divest 
itself of this responsibility and delegate 
that power to the people. 

This decision of the court, however, 
had no vital bearing upon the estabHsh- 
ment of free schools. In the campaign 
of 1850, involving the repeal of the free 
school act, the friends of that project 
recognized the inequality of taxation 
produced under the operation of that law 
and pledged their best efTorts to correct 
the same by remedial legislation. The 
Legislature of 1851 in responding to this 



44 Development of New York Schools 

demand authorized an appropriation of 
$800,000 to be raised by direct taxation 
for the support of the schools and thus 
laid the foundation of the free school 
fund. In this law, the essential features of 
the free school act of 1849 were re-enacted. « 
Under its provisions, the schools were 
declared to be free to every child in the 
state between the ages of five and twenty- 
one "except as herein provided". This 
exception was that, when state funds 
were insufficient to meet the salary of 
the teacher, the deficiency should be 
obtained by assessments upon the parents 
of the children who attended school. The 
old ratebill system was still continued. 
The additional state aid extended to 
the schools did not relieve the poor from 
the burden of taxation for the education 
of their children which it had been antici- 



Development of New York Schools 45 

pated such aid would afford. The country 
was growing, its business interests ex- 
panding, the simple life of the people 
was becoming more complex and the 
expense of maintaining schools was in- 
creasing in common with the increased 
expense of other affairs. The amount of 
tuition paid by parents under the ratebill 
system was increasing and amounted to 
about SriOO.OOO annually. The schools 
had become free in nearly all the cities 
and in many of the villages of the state. 
This tax was therefore paid by the people 
living in the farming sections. 

The democracy of that age was taking 
new form. Lincoln's Emancipation Proc- 
lamation had been issued. The great 
Civil War in the name of liberty, freedom 
and union had been fought. Human 
rights were obtaining increased recogni- 



46 Development of New York Schools 

tion, human beings were regarded as 
more sacred than property, and in 1867 
the Legislature abolished the old ratebill 
system, increased the annual appropria- 
tion for free schools and authorized a - 
school-district tax for the maintenance 
of schools. The schools then really be- 
came free schools and the principle that 
all the property of the state should edu- 
cate all the children of the state was 
definitely and finally asserted. The people 
of this generation find it difficult to believe 
that such a heroic fight was required in 
order to provide free schools, and yet 
our state was a leader in this great move- 
ment in the recognition of the people's 
rights. It was not until 1881 that the 
elementary schools of France were made 
absolutely free, and not until 1888 that 



Development of New York Schools 47 

similar action was taken in Germany 
and not until 1891 in England. 

The Public School Society 
No review of the educational system 
of New York state would be complete 
without reference to the Public School 
Society of New York City. This society 
was organized in 1805, or seven years 
previous to the permanent organization 
of the state school system. It was later 
known as The Public School Society of 
New York and for nearly fifty years 
rendered a valuable serivce in promoting 
public education in that city. This 
society was a private corporation under 
the management of a board of trustees, 
many of whom were leading citizens of 
that city and among the foremost men 
of the country. DeWitt Clinton was the 
first president of the society and served 



48 Development of New York Schools 

in that capacity until his death in 1828. 
There were many private schools in New- 
York City which were attended by the 
children of the aristocratic and wealthy 
families. There were many other chari- 
table and church schools, but the founders 
of this society knew that there were many 
children who had no opportunity to 
obtain an education. The object of this 
society was to provide educational facili- 
ties for these children and the scope of the ' 
work of the society was enlarged so that 
its function was to provide an education 
for all children in New York City not 
otherwise provided for and as defined in 
its charter "whether such children be or 
be not the proper objects of gratuitous 
education, and without regard to the 
religious sect or denomination to which 
such children or their parents may belong". 



Development of New York Schools 49 

This society received voluntary contribu- 
tions and appropriations were made to 
it by the city and by the state. It parti- 
cipated pro rata in the apportionment 
of the state school funds. 

As the public school system developed, 
public sentiment became opposed to a 
private corporation's management of 
schools which were supported almost 
wholly from the public treasury. Popular 
opinion earnestly supported the idea that 
public authorities should control the public 
schools and, in 1842, the provisions of' 
the common school law were extended to 
New York City and a board of education 
and the other necessary machinery for 
operating the schools of a city were created. 
In 1853, this society turned over to the 
city board of education seventy-eight 



50 Development of New York Schools 

schools and property to the value of 
nearly one-half million dollars. 
Higher education 
The growth and development of the 
country, the general advancement of the 
common intelligence of the people and the 
increased demands upon the social and 
commercial life of the state placed greater 
demands upon the state's system of public 
education than were provided by the 
common schools. The educational facili- 
ties afforded by the academies, which were 
institutions of secondary learning, were 
inadequate to these demands. Public 
sentiment developed until the proposition 
that the public schools should provide 
these additional educational facilities was 
strongly supported. 



Development of New York Schools 51 

Columbia university 
The task of tracing the forces which 
influenced the development of our system 
of elementary schools is comparatively 
easy, but that of determining the influences 
which affected the development and shaped 
our system of secondary and higher edu- 
cational institutions is more difficult. 
Kings College, now Columbia University, 
was the first college organized in the 
state and was incorporated in 1754. A 
violent controversy occurred over the 
issuance of a charter to that college. 
One faction desired a charter granted by 
the colonial authorities and another de- 
sired one granted by the royal authorities. 
The influence of the royal party prevailed 
and the charter of Kings College was 
granted by King George II. It was, of 
course, an institution which represented 



52 Development of New York Schools 

the aristocratic and ecclesiastic influences 
which were controlling elements in Eng- 
lish affairs at that day. The fact, however, 
that there was a faction in the colony 
taking the position that the charter of 
this college should be granted by the 
colonial legislature is evidence that in 
1754 there was abroad in the colony the 
germ of that intellectual, civil and religious 
freedom which asserted itself and became 
supreme in the Revolutionary period. 
The Regents of the University 
The legislation of 1 784, creating the Uni- 
versity of the state of New York, induced 
the friends of Kings College, which had been 
discontinued during the war, to undertake 
to revive that institution. The foremost 
men of the state were men who possessed 
strong attachments for English institu- 
tions. Paris, however, might well be 



Development of New York Schools 53 

regarded as the world's intellectual center 
at that time. French soldiers and French 
capital had rendered material aid to the 
colonists in their struggle for freedom 
from English rule. Our leading men in 
science, literature and statesmanship had 
come in contact with the scholars and 
statesmen of France and had been students 
of the liberalizing movements which were 
in force throughout the world. While 
it can not be said that the plan of educa- 
tion contemplated under the University 
of the state of New York, created in 1784 
and modified somewhat in 1.787, was 
modelled after either the English or French 
systems of higher education, there are 
points of similarity which can be traced 
to the influences of these two countries. 
Nevertheless, there were no greater men 
in the state, and no firmer patriots in 



54 Development of New York Schools 

the country, than those who participated 
in and were responsible for the organiza- 
tion of the Board of Regents — CHnton, 
Hamilton, Jay, Diiane, Livingston and 
others. In the final analysis, however, 
of the motives and influences which 
determined the character and policy of 
this great educational measure, it must 
be held that the dominating power was the 
prevailing spirit throughout America as 
expressed not only in the Declaration of 
Independence and the Constitution of 
the United States, but also in the several 
state constitutions, that the people desired 
self-government and political freedom and 
would support no scheme of public edu- 
cation which, in their judgment, was 
not a guarantee of the preservation and 
development of these principles. The 
influences therefore which were vital 



Development of New York Schools 55 

in the creation of the University of the 
state of New York and which were con- 
trolling in the development of our system 
of secondary and higher education were 
characteristically American. 

The Regents were charged with the duty 
of incorporating academies and colleges. 
From the creation of the University in 
1784 to the year 1812, when a permanent 
elementary state school S3^stem was or- 
ganized, the Regents had chartered thirty 
academies. Three colleges, Columbia, 
Union and Hamilton had also been charter- 
ed. The Regents rendered a great ser- 
vice to the state and to public education 
in exercising such discriminating judgment 
in passing upon applications for charters. 
Several applications for college charters 
were denied but charters for academies 
were granted instead. Many applications to 



56 Development of New York Schools 

incorporate academies were denied. These 
charters were granted as public necessi- 
ties demanded and as petitioners showed 
their abiUty to organize and maintain the 
institutions on proper financial and educa- 
tional standards. 

Union free schools 
The year 1853 is an important period 
in the development of secondary schools. 
At the close of the fifties, there were about 
one hundred ninety academies operating 
throughout the state. The growth of these 
institutions had been gradual and sub- 
stantial up to this period. From this 
period there has been a gradual decrease 
and many have been merged into the 
public school system. In 1853, the Legisla- 
ture enacted the union free school law. 
The object of this law was to consolidate ^ 
the separate districts of a city, or two or 



Development of New York Schools 57 

more districts contiguous to each other 
in the villages of the state, so that more 
property and a greater number of children 
should be brought to the support of a 
single school. This action enabled school 
authorities to liberalize their courses of 
study and to provide the necessary equip- 
ment and teachers for giving instruction 
therein. Such districts were authorized 
to organize academic departments and 
were later authorized to take over under 
contract academies located in the district. 
These districts were also authorized to - 
organize high schools. The terms "aca- 
demic course" and "high school course" 
became synonomous. 

These departments in the pubHc schools 
were tax-supported institutions and there- 
fore became powerful rivals of the acade- 
mies in all parts of the state. The rise of 



58 Development of New York Schools 

the public high schools until they number 
about nine hundred in the state has 
caused the decline of the old academy 
until that class of institution is nearly ex- 
tinct. These pubHc high schools and 
many of the one hundred seventy private 
secondary schools offer not only the tradi- 
tional college preparatory course but also 
commercial courses, agricultural courses, 
manual training and technical courses 
for boys, and domestic art and science and 
home-making courses for girls. In other 
■words, these institutions bring within the 
reach of every boy and girl in the state 
a technical training which will prepare 
them for the special field of labor which 
they desire to pursue, 

The men of liberal education throughout 
the history of modern times have been 
the champions of national progress and of 



Development of New York Schools 59 

individual liberty and freedom. These men 
have constituted the influence and power 
in all large movements in this country 
and abroad intended to accomplish these 
results. The more vast and intricate the 
aftairs of the nation become, the greater 
the need of an increased number of men of 
large vision and intellectual power. The 
number of such men depends very general- 
ly upon the character of the institutions 
of secondary and higher education. The 
policy of the state therefore in fostering 
these institutions from an early date and 
in extending them generous financial as- 
sistance has been one of prudence, wisdom 
and patriotism. 

Equal education for girls 
There has been one feature in the devel- 
opment of the public school system of the 
state from its beginning which has dis- 



60 Development of New York Schools 

tinguished it from the plan of education 
which has been pursued in other states 
and in other countries. We adopted the 
policy of our Dutch ancestors by providing 
that the elementary schools should be open 
to the girls of the state upon the same con- 
tions under which they were open to the 
boys. Writers of educational history tell 
us that the doors of the public schools of 
Boston were barred against the girls of that 
city until 1790, when Boston began to 
regard the girls sufficiently to admit them 
to school during the summer months when 
the attendance was low because the boys 
would not attend at that time of the year. 
It is further asserted by these writers that 
the records show that in 1788 Northamp- 
ton, Mass., voted that girls were unworthy 
of an education and that such town would 
tolerate no expense for "schooling girls". 



Development of New York Schools 61 

This state has always accorded girls equal 
privileges with the boys not only in the 
elementary schools but also in the secon- 
dary schools, and has manifested a keen 
interest in affording adequate provision 
for the higher education of women. 

Some writers have credited Deny, New 
Hampshire, with the honor of having 
organized in 1823 the first academy in this 
county designed solely for girls. These 
writers are attempting to rob the state of 
New York of one of her most notable 
achievements in pubHc education. In 
1819, or four years previous to the organiza- 
tion of the Derry academy, Mrs. Emma 
Willard opened the Waterford Female 
Academy. She continued this institution 
imtil 1821 when she moved that academy 
to Troy and founded the Troy Female 
Seminary, which was later named the 



62 Development of New York Schools 

Emma Willard School in honor of its 
distinguished founder. The citizens of 
Troy provided a commodious building 
for that institution in 1821. Although this 
institution was not legally chartered until 
1837, it has had a continuous existence 
devoted solely to the education of girls 
since 1819. The Albany Female Academy 
was chartered by the Legislature in 1821, 
or two years before the Derry school was 
opened, and has been in continuous 
operation from that date. The Emma 
Willard School is the oldest organized in- 
stitution in the country, if not in the world, 
devoted solely to the secondary education 
of girls, and the Albany Female Academy 
is the oldest chartered institution in the 
country, if not in the world, devoted to 
the secondary education of girls. These 
two pioneer institutions which projected 



Development of New York Schools 63 

their activities in this line of public edu- 
cation have therefore brought distinction 
and honor upon the Empire state. But 
more than this, the Elmira Female College 
wns the first college in the world devoted 
to the education of women which organized 
courses of study on an equal footing with 
the courses which obtained in the colleges 
of the country for the education of men. 
The founders of the public school system 
of the state were guided by such wisdom 
and statesmenship that they comprehended 
the v/ide range of activities which would 
open to the women of the country and the 
great benefits which would come not 
only to society but to the state itself 
through their proper education. As a 
result of New York's policy of providing 
equal privileges in her public schools for 
boys and girls, there are today more girls 



64 Development of New York Schools 

in attendance upon the secondary and 
higher educational institutions of the 
state than there are boys in attendance 
upon such institutions. 

School funds 
Of course the establishment of a system 
of public education depended in a large 
degree upon financial support and we 
have seen that the first action of the state 
toward a permanent state fund to be 
devoted to the support of public education 
was the enactment of a law directed to 
such purpose in 1784. The state possessed 
large tracts of unappropriated public 
lands. The law provided that these lands 
should be divided into townships of six 
miles square and that in each town three 
hundred acres should be set apart for the 
support of a minister of the Gospel and 
six hundred ninety for the support of a 



Development of New York Schools 65 

public school. This law was the origin 
of the gospel and school fund." From 
this fund, the schools obtained very 
substantial assistance in the earlier history 
of the state and it still renders shght aid 
to the schools in about one-half of the 
counties. 

Another fund, known as the literature- 
fund, was established in 1786 through 
the sale of state lands. Various additions 
to this fund have been made since that 
date. The revenues have been expended 
under the direction of the Regents in 
extending aid to the academies of the 
state and other institutions which have 
been under the supervision of the Regents. 
The capital of this fund is about $284,000. 

The establishment of these funds, how- 
ever, was the initial action of a state 
policy. It established the principle that 



66 Development of New York Schools 

the state should give financial support 
to the maintenance of public schools. 
Out of the action creating these funds 
came the action which resulted in the 
establishment of a larger fund and one 
which has given greater support to the 
schools, namely, the common school fund.- 
This support came at a time when the 
schools were in their greatest need of 
financial assistance and the aid thereby 
rendered was undoubtedly more elTective 
and serviceable than the state aid accorded 
the schools at any other time in their 
histor\^ This fund was created in 1805, 
from the net proceeds of the sale of 500,000 
acres of state land. There could be no dis- 
tribution of this fund until the annual rev- 
enue amounted to $50,000. The first dis- 
tribution was made in 1815 and one has 
been made annually since that date. The 



Development of New York Schools 67 

amount of this fund is over four million 
seven hundred seventy-three thousand 
dollars. The creation of these funds for 
the support of the schools was the corner- 
stone in the foundation of the greatest 
school fund which has been created by 
any state in the Union. The outcome 
of that great contest for the establishment 
of free schools in this state, which ex- 
tended through one half of the nineteenth 
century, rested upon the creation of a - 
permanent state fund 'which would give 
to localities substantial aid in meeting 
the expense of maintaining schools. This 
fund was authorized by the imposition 
of a direct tax in 1851 when the first free 
school law became operative and the 
amount raised and distributed among 
the several schools was $800,000. This 



68 Development of New York Schools 

amount has been increased from time to 
time and in 1912 was $5,175,000. 

To include all funds which have aided 
the development of the system of public 
education, mention should be made of 
the United vStates deposit fund. In 1836, 
Congress divided certain surplus revenues 
in the treasury among the several states 
for safe-keeping. New York state re- 
ceived about $4,000,000. The Legislature 
directed that the revenue from this fund 
should be used for the support of the 
schools and from 1838 to 1881 it yielded 
annually for that purpose $165,000 and 
since that time, because of depreciation 
in investments, only $75,000. 
Training of teachers 

In all the laws enacted by the state in 
the development of its public school 
system, the teacher has been recognized 



Development of New York Schools 69 

as an important factor. The right to 
teach in a public school during the entire 
history of the state has been predicated 
upon character and educational qualifica- 
tions. Governor DeWitt Clinton in his 
message to the Legislature in 1819 urged 
upon that body the need of providing 
facilities for the professional training of 
the teachers who were to be employed 
in the public schools. He brought the 
subject to the attention of the Legislature 
repeatedly and in 1825 recommended the 
establishment of a "seminary for the 
education of teachers'*. The Regents gave 
the Governor most cordial and helpful 
support In his efforts in this direction by 
recommending in several reports that 
special provision for training teachers be 
made. The Legislature also gave the 
subject most careful consideration, but 



70 Development of New York Schools 

the opinion of that body appears to have 
been that the condition of the state treasury 
at that time would not permit the state 
to undertake a proposition involving such 
additional expense. 

It also appears to have been the opinion 
of the Legislature that the results desired 
to be accomplished through this special 
seminary could be achieved through the 
co-operation of the academies, which were 
then in a rather prosperous condition. 
The academies were already furnishing 
teachers for the common schools and, 
although special courses for teachers were 
not maintained, these institutions were 
somewhat imbued with the professional 
spirit and were giving instruction in the 
"principles of teaching". The literature 
fund was increased in 1827 and one of 
the stated objects was to "promote the 



Development of New York Schools 71 

education of teachers". In 1834, a law 
was enacted directing that the revenue 
of the literature fund apportioned to 
academies should be expended in the 
education of teachers for common schools. 
This law gave the Regents the authority 
to prescribe regulations to govern such 
instruction. This early consideration of 
the subject shows that New York state 
had anticipated one of the greatest needs 
of the public school service and in advance 
of every state in the Union. She was 
the first American state to enact a law 
providing for the professional training 
of public school teachers. This law was 
the foundation of the present system of 
training classes, which is supplying an- 
nually about one thousand teachers for 
the rural schools. 

The inadequacy, however, of this prepa- 



72 Development of New York Schools 

ration for the teachers employed in the 
more advanced schools was soon recogniz- 
ed. Interest was again centered upon a 
more thorough and advanced system of 
professional instruction of teachers and 
developed into the establishment of the 
state normal school at Albany in 1844. 
The organization of this school was the 
beginning of the development of an ex- 
tensive system of state normal and city 
training schools. There have been estab- 
lished ten state normal schools and thir- 
teen city training schools devoted solely to 
the professional training of teachers for the 
elementary schools of the state, supplying 
annually about two thousand teachers. 
The original normal school established at . 
Albany has become the State Normal Col- 
lege and is engaged in the training of teach- 
ers for the secondary schools of the state. 



Development of New York Schools 73 

Supervision 
From the very inception of the organiza- 
tion of a state school system, the state 
has recognized the value of the proper 
supervision of its schools. In the early 
act of 1795 provision was made for com- 
missioners and inspectors who were charg- 
ed with the general supervision of the 
schools in their respective towns. vSimilar 
provision was made in the permanent act 
of 1812 and, from that time to the present, 
supervision by local officers under the 
direction of the state has been maintained 
over the public schools either through 
inspectors, deputy state sviperintendents, 
county superintendents, town superin- 
tendents, school commissioners, or dis- 
trict superintendents, and city and village 
sup erint endents . 



74 Development of New York Schools 

As separate organizations developed 
for the management of the schools in the 
populous centers, the necessity of pro- 
fessional direction of educational work 
in such centres was recognized. The 
city which has the honor of being the 
first not only in the state but in the United 
States to select a city superintendent of 
schools, is Buffalo, whose hospitality has 
been showered upon us during this meeting. 

The state was apportioning large sums 
of money to the cities for the support of 
schools and regarded it important that 
these schools should be brought to the /■ 
highest possible degree of efhcienc}^ As 
early as 1864 the state gave encouragement 
to the proper supervision of schools in 
the cities by making an apportionment 
of state funds to the extent of S50() for 
each member of Assembly to which a 



Development of New York Schools 75 

city was entitled if the city employed a 
superintendent of schools. In 1876 the 
state extended this policy by including 
villages of 5,000 or more inhabitants and 
today we have in the cities, villages and 
supervisors^ districts 800 superintendents. 
It should be a source of congratulation 
to the people of the state to know that 
in no other state or country is there to 
be found a body of officers charged with 
the important work of giving direction 
to the education of its future citizens so 
well equipped from the standpoint of 
education, professional training and ex- 
perience, or rendering a more vital service 
to public education, as the body of superin- 
tendents who are employed in supervising 
the schools of the state of New York. This 
has been a wise policy on the part of the 
state because it gives intelligent direction 



76 Development of New York Schools 

to its educational activities, provides more 
efficient instruction, prevents waste of 
public funds and, what is of greater im- 
portance, a waste of the child's time. 
Compulsory education 
The declared policy of the state that 
public education was a state function, 
that public policy required the mainte- 
nance of public schools and the extension 
of public school work so as to include 
modern high school courses, and the 
further action of the state in making all 
these educational facilities free to every 
child in the Commonwealth, inevitably 
meant that the authority of the state 
would be exercised to compel children to 
attend school. If the welfare of society 
and of the state depended upon the dis- 
semination of education among all classes 
and in all sections of the state, and if the 



Development of New York Schools 77 

state possessed the legal aiithority to 
tax the property of all its citizens for the 
accomplishment of this result, then surely 
the state possessed like authority to 
compel the children who are to become 
its future citizens and upon whom its 
welfare in the future depends, to attend 
upon the instruction provided for them. 
Soon after the enactment of the free 
school law of 1867, the agitation of com- 
pulsory attendance laws began and in 
1874 the first of these laws was enacted 
in this state. As might be expected, the 
original statute enacted to accomplish 
such purpose was cumbersome, was funda- 
mentally wrong in its construction and 
therefore its provisions were never pro- 
perly enforced. However, as the people 
began to understand the prevailing ex- 
tent of illiteracy, the public conscience 



78 Development of New York Schools 

became aro^jsed at this menace to society 
and the sentiment of the state not only 
supported the enactment of stringent 
attendance laws but the rigid enforce- 
ment of such laws. This feeling through- 
out the state resulted in the enactment 
of the compulsory attendance act of 1894 
and in various amendments thereto since 
that date until the present law, which 
not only promulgates the right of the 
child to receive an education but which 
also declares the obHgation of the state 
to protect and guarantee such right of 
the child, is the most effective in this 
country. The effect of this law was 
immediate and has been manifested in 
two ways. First, the attendance of en- 
rolled pupils has increased. When this 
law was enacted in 1894, the average 
daily attendance upon the public schools 



Development of New York Schools 79 

of the state was 64 per cent of all the 
pupils enrolled in such schools. The 
average daily attendance at present is 
about 80 per cent of the enrolled pupils, 
or a gain of nearly 16 per cent. Second, 
there has also been a gradual decrease 
in the number of illiterates in the state 
between the ages of ten and fourteen 
years. Between 1890 and 1900 there 
was a decrease of 53 per cent in this class 
of illiterates throughout the state, and 
between 1900 and 1910 there was a de- 
crease of 45 per cent. 

The Empire State 
Such in brief is a general review of a 
century of development and progress in 
public education in New York state. It 
has not been possible to consider the kin- 
dergarten, the private schools, the school 
and public libraries, nor the facilities for 



80 Development of New York Schools 

the edtication of the orphan, the deaf, the 
blind, the crippled children, the feeble- 
minded, the illiterate criminals in the state 
penal institutions nor the Indian children 
upon the state reservations. These special 
fields of education have received the at- 
tention and financial support of the state 
and the state has thereby reflected her 
broad, comprehensive interest in human 
affairs. 

Since 1800 oiir state has grown from a 
people of e340,000 to an empire of U>,000, 
000 human souls or abovit one-tenth of 
the population of the entire country. 
From the rank of fifth in the sisterhood 
of states in population, wealth, manufac- 
tures and commerce, she has risen to 
first place and acquired the title "Empire 
State". 



Development of New York Schools 81 

During this same period of the state's 
commercial and industrial development 
and growth, her system of public educa- 
tion has risen step by step from the feeble 
beginnings of 1812, meeting each new 
demand, until today there are within 
the state 12,000 public elementary schools, 
900 pubhc high schools, 175 private 
secondary schools amd 125 institutions of 
higher learning, which are attended by 
2,000,000 students who are under the 
instruction and training of 54,000 teachers, 
at an annual expenditure of nearly $80,- 
000,000 and operated on an invested 
capital of S365,000,000. 

These institutions are the instruments 
of mighty power in eliminating the forces 
which are destructive of social and national 
progress and greatness. In them are 
trained for citizenship not only the children 



82 Development of New York Schools 

of American parentage and customs but 
associated with these are armies of thous- 
ands upon thousands of boys and girls 
of foreign birth, customs and languages, 
representing all the nations of the earth. 
They are prepared to enter the various 
activities of our commercial, industrial 
and professional life and generally become 
good American citizens. This record of 
progress, this achievement of unquestioned 
success of New York state in training 
her citizens, and the ready adaptability 
of the whole school system to meet the 
ever-changing needs of the people is 
sufficient answer to the frequent and 
unfounded indictment that the American 
public school system is a failure. 

Fellow teachers, this work which has 
been accomplished by the schools for 
the moral, social and intellectual advance- 



Development of New York Schools 83 

ment of society and the state is your 
achievement. In every great movement 
to make the schools more serviceable 
to the people, the progressive teachers of 
the country have been the leaders and 
their demands for the inauguration of 
reforms have been in advance of popular 
opinion necessary to their adoption. In 
the movement of the present decade to 
readjust the work of the schools to make 
them meet more completely and efficiently 
the needs of the great majority of children 
by the introduction of industrial educa- 
tion in the public schools, those charged 
with the management of the schools have 
been the leaders. You should feel a 
just pride in the contribution which you 
have made toward the success of our 
public school work. You should not be 
satisfied however with present achieve- 



84 Development of New York Schools 

ments. The dawn of a new century in 
our educational history may well give 
you renewed courage and may well in- 
spire you to press forward with even 
greater devotion, in uplifting the common 
intelligence of the state, in promoting 
the peace, progress and prosperity of the 
country, and in the establishment of the 
principles of justice and right which are 
the foundations of the common brother- 
hood of man. 



MAR 17 1913 



